A/N: Yes, I know it's been a while, and I am very sorry to any followers or readers I have left! But I'm making it up to you with the longest chapter I've ever had- 2,179 words- which, for me, is quite the accomplishment. Damned writer's block is finally over! Woo-hoo! Ok, so it's mostly England in this chapter with a bit of France, just because I can. Typos are mostly Ukraine's accent, but tell me if I mess up anywhere else. No translations; it should be obvious by now. Love you all, and please please please review!
~France~FPOV~France~
I logged onto my laptop, pulled up the internet, and searched, 'British Stereotypes'. After looking through lists of things I already knew, I came across this quote on a page: "The happiest man on earth lives in a British house, gets an American salary, has a Chinese wife, and eats Japanese food. The saddest man on earth lives in a Japanese house, gets a Chinese salary, has an American wife, and eats British food." I rolled my eyes in disgust. China, America and Japan were not at all like that. Although the comment on British food was true. Speaking of... I headed off to the bookstore.
~England~EPOV~England~
We took a taxi from the airport, Ukraine chattering away the entire time. I didn't answer, looking out the window at the scenery around me. Apparently Russia's house was on the outskirts of Moscow, so we had a way to go. Buildings, people, street signs- all rushed by me in a blur. A man begging for money, a woman pushing a pram, a child clinging to her hand. Businessmen in suits and ties, heading off to work. Young men and women talking, flirting, and laughing in cafes. Looking around, I could see that it wasn't all too different from my own country, my own people. The sound of my name caused me to turn around. "Sorry, what was that?" I asked Ukraine. She simply smiled again and answered, "Ve're nearly zere. I suggest you gazer your tings." I looked around, and sure enough, the tarot cards had somehow gotten into my hands. It seems I had been shuffling them around while I was lost in thought. I glared at them, then packed them away into my coat pocket just as the taxi reached the house. Maybe I'd send them to Romania. She'd have more use for them. I open the door, and step out. It's chilly, even though it's spring, and I'm glad to have my jacket, though I wish I'd thought to bring a coat. Stupid of me, really, not to think it would be cold in Russia. The driver pops open the boot and takes out my trunk, setting it down on the ground before taking Ukraine's money and driving off. I stand there like an idiot, waiting for Ukraine, who's busy looking through her giant purse for something.
"Here ve are!" She says, and pulls out a giant, heavy ring of keys. I'm curious; how do you lose keys that big? Especially when the purse you're carrying them in is barely big enough to fit them in it. Ukraine walks over to the gate, and unlocks that, then walks on a small pathway to the door of the giant mansion beyond the gate. Having unlocked that door as well, she turns around to find me rooted to the spot.
"Come on!" She cheerfully tells me, and I hesitantly step through the gate, my boots crunching through the snow, and my trunk scraping against the flagstones as I pull it along behind me. I make it over to Ukraine, who then promptly bounces her way inside, and yells,
"Toris!" I jump back from the doorway, amazed. Not only does Ukraine have a gigantic set of knockers, she also has lungs like a prima donna. Incredible. A minute later, a young man with semi-long brown hair appears. He seems familiar, and a second later I recognize him as Lithuania, Poland's crush and one of the Baltic Trio. He smiles at me, and takes my trunk and motions me to follow him. I sneak a quick look at Ukraine, who waves me on and goes off somewhere. I follow Lithuania through an entry hall with a huge fireplace in an even larger room on one side, and a wall on the other side that is hung with paintings. There is another hallway ahead of us, but Lithuania makes a turn and heads up a gigantic staircase. I look over the edge, and see a huge library stretching out beneath me. This house is gigantic, and so confusing! I'm grateful for Lithuania, or else I'd be lost in no time. We've made it up the staircase, and I feel slightly faint. I don't have much energy, but that's the price you pay... Toris heads down another hallway, and finally stops. I calm my breathing as he opens the door, and waves me in ahead of him.
"Do you like the room, Miss England?" It's the first words he's said, and his voice is pleasant. I turn around and decide I do.
"Yes," I say, admiring it. The walls are a pleasing light blue color, and the bed is covered with a comforter with a gorgeous sunflower design on it. That's where the room stops being ordinary, however. The bed has a giant canopy above it, in pale blue and gold like a sunlit waterfall. The floor is a rich golden color, covered with plush rugs with designs of handsome men in armor, beautiful girls, fearsome dragons, majestic castles and wicked-looking witches. I recognize a few scenes from some Russian fairy tales I know. The window is floor-to-ceiling, with richly embroidered tapestries tied back with gold cords with silky tassels. There's a huge wardrobe opposite the bed, of the same color wood as the floor. On either side of the wardrobe are mirrors, with gilt frames. I step over to the window and look out. We must have ended up on the other side of the house, and I can see a field of sunflowers stretching out. Funny. Russia doesn't seem the sunflower type.
"Anything else you would like, Miss England?" I look back at Toris.
"Where's the bathroom?" He nods.
"Of course, Miss. Unfortunately, this room does not have a built-in one. You will be using the guest bathroom down the hall." He walks out the door, indicating I should leave my belongings in the room, and takes me down the hall. I see a few more doors, all plain. Then, almost at the very end of the hallway is a very ornately carved door. "The master's rooms," indicates Toris. "The bathroom is right here." He opens the door opposite, and leaves.
"Dinner will be served at 5. If you wish to have tea- I believe it is a custom of the English- you may ask Mistress Ukraine. Someone will be sent to fetch you when the master returns home." A bow, and he leaves.
So. Russia isn't home then. Well, that's a plus. I take a quick look around the bathroom. It's just as fancy as my room, and to think these are for guests! I knew that Russia used to be very rich, but I was still astonished at the amount of finery in this house. I decided to go back to my room and unpack.
I'd finally gotten all my clothes into the wardrobe- they barely took up any room- and I was about to take my toiletries down to the bathroom when my stomach rumbled. I glared at it- traitor!- but decided to have some tea anyway. Leaving my stuff, I ventured out into the hallway. There was nobody around, so I walked down the hall, humming "Greensleeves". Eventually the humming turned into singing, and I went down the giant staircase singing out in full voice.
"I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever thou would'st crave;
I have waged both life and land
Your love and goodwill for to have.
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves my heart of gold
Greensleeves was my heart of joy
And who but my lady Greensleeves.
Thy petticoat of sendle white
With gold embroidered gorgeously;
Thy petticoat of silk and white
And these I bought gladly.
Greensleeves was my delight,
Greensleeves my heart of gold
Greensleeves was my heart of joy
And who but my lady Greensleeves."
"You has a lovely singing voice, Miss England." It was Ukraine, standing at the bottom of the staircase. I turned beet red. I hadn't know anyone was listening, but that wasn't the only reason. Since Arthur and I represented the entire British Isles, sometimes our accents changed. He had a Scottish accent when he got drunk, and I tended to sing with an Irish accent. It was why I hated to have anybody but my brother hear me.
"Thank you." I said and cleared my throat. "Er, would you have any tea around? I was feeling a bit peckish and it's a while until dinner…"
"Of course!" Ukraine headed off and I followed. She went down a short hallway, and then down a short staircase until we found ourselves in the kitchen. It was gigantic, and although every surface gleamed, you could tell it had been made long ago for a much larger group of people than inhabited the house now. I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to look.
A young boy sat on the kitchen counter, laughing noiselessly as a woman with long platinum blonde hair in a blue dress stirred something in a pot on an unlit burner. The table was being set by a man with shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes, and a man who looked like a much younger version of Toris was handing forks and knives to him. On the other side of the kitchen, flames had burst into existence in the fireplace, which was big enough to fit a tree. A giant pig was roasting there, watched by a serious, tall man who had another young boy seated next to him, eating candies out of a bag. All the figures had a slightly misty, fuzzy, transparent quality to them. As I looked on a bit longer, I realized they were ghosts. No, they were… memories. These people- they were a memory from a long time ago, when the there were lots of people living in Russia's house. The thought made me sad, because it took a very strong emotion to anchor a memory this way. And sure enough, I turned around and saw, behind me, a tall, platinum-blonde man with a tan coat and white scarf. He was smiling, a busty woman next to him, a handsome man next to her, holding her hand. Russia and Ukraine. But who was the other man? And, come to think of it, who was everyone else? I recognized Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, but everyone else was unfamiliar. What had happened to them? To this house? Is this why Russia was always so angry and alone, because he missed these people? As I watched, the figures faded, one by one. I turned to look at Russia's image, and his smile was fading as well. A look of fear and loss was replacing the happiness on his face. Finally, he, too, faded, looking straight at me.
"Miss England, your tea?" Ukraine asked from behind me, startling me.
"Oh! Yes, thank you." I took a sip, and looked up, surprised. The flavor was bright and fresh, tangy and sweet. "Mmm! What is this?" I asked, surprised.
"Is raspberry tea. I made it myself last summer." I looked at Ukraine with a new appreciation. She was smarter than I'd thought, and she'd lost more too. She'd had a man who loved her, but he'd- what? Died? His country conquered? I knew it could happen, back when Arthur and I had only been the Anglo-Saxon tribes we'd seen a few countries disappear, but I also knew it didn't always happen. Although his country had been taken off the map decades ago, Prussia was still (unfortunately) alive and well. It must have been because his brother Germany had taken him in- they were close enough that Germany could keep Prussia alive as well. And Hungary's country hadn't disappeared, either, Austria now represented her. A pity it had to have been Russia's friends and family who disappeared.
"I'm going up to my room." I said, having finished my tea. I set the cup down and walked away. I was disturbed that I had seen that memory. It wasn't new- At America's house you could see memories of the Civil and Revolutionary wars, in Africa horrifying memories of the slave trade, and the French revolution in France's house. All the countries had these ghost images around them, it was what kept our histories alive and in the memories of our people. I hated Poland's memories the most- the concentration camps, especially Auschwitz… It was horrifying to watch. Yet, for some reason, Russia's disturbed me the most. I supposed it was because I could see the effect of those events on the actual countries- Russia was crazy, Belarus crazier… and because I had seen countries die. I'd never seen that in a memory, neither had Arthur. It was terrifying. With these thoughts swirling around in my mind, I went back into my room and flopped down onto the bed. I didn't want to come down, to see more memories, to see Russia.
~France~FPOV~France~
"Merci." I paid for my purchase at the bookstore and left. I'd been able to find everything I needed; one of the perks of being a personification of a country was that you always got what you wanted in your country, the weather was always perfect for you, and girls or boys- whoever you were interested in- always liked you. The one exception seemed to be Amérique. He just had bad luck, it seemed. I strolled back to my apartment and wrapped my books, then booked a flight for the next morning to London. I couldn't wait to see Grande-Bretagne. I just needed to remember to stop by a flower shop when I got there.
A/N: Ok, Hetalia's not mine, obviously. If I was the pairing FrUK would have happened a long time ago. So, just some stuff: I have no idea about the Anglo-Saxon tribes. I don't know if they actually do have hetalia characters, if they do, sorry! In my version, when England and Britain were cute little chibis they were the tribes, then when they grew up and got hot they were actually countries. So yeah. And I'm also taking out Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. England and Britain are all of it- again, deal. And the whole accent-changing thing is just my crazy mind.
Kk, there's the copyright rant, and please review! Love you all for reading this and sticking with the story, thank you so much! XOXO